


A Night to Remember

by Alixtii



Series: Watcher!verse [52]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Bechdel Fix, Boarding School, Cleveland, Established Relationship, Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Lesbian Character, Love Spell, Magic, Marriage, Multi, Present Tense, Prom Night, Soul Bond, St. Clare's Academy, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-05-09
Updated: 2009-05-08
Packaged: 2017-10-06 01:52:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alixtii/pseuds/Alixtii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy's daughter goes to the prom--and takes some friends. Plot happens. So does porn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Night to Remember

If there's anywhere Xander never thought he'd be, it's on a plane, next to a vampire who's either 15 or 800 depending on how you count, headed _towards_ a Hellmouth. Not even just a Hellmouth, but a high school on top of a Hellmouth--shades of Sunnydale all over again.

The fact that he's traveling to this school in order to attend his wife's high school prom makes it, if anything, even stranger. First because the fact he has a wife and is married is something which sends his mind reeling. The memories of his marriage and honeymoon are vivid in his mind (even without a Dark God possessing him and using him and his wife as vessels to take over the world he suspects that still would be the case) and the gold wedding band on his finger gives physical testimony, but still. Him, Xander. Married.

Next, his wife hasn't graduated high school yet. This isn't too bad; he's only 24, if you don't count the years when he was dead (and why would you?), and she was 18 when they married. And Dawn and Giles can't complain too much because the difference between their ages so dwarfs that between him and Madelyn as to make it look small in comparison, even if they had waited until Dawn was 29. (Dawn and Giles married. What happened to the world while he was dead? Did it go crazy?)

But Giles had known Dawn when she was, what? Eleven? Twelve? Xander's glad Madelyn wasn't born yet when he died; it'd be strange to have memories of her as a baby and then to share her bed. He tries not to think of the torch he carried for her mother for so long. The fact that he's slept with Dawn doesn't even enter into it in the same way; there are few people in Maddy's circle outside her fellow students at St. Clare's who _haven't_ slept with her aunt. Dawn's list of conquests rivals the Tradëscan Codex in bulk.

But really, none of that matters. "In a hurry" doesn't begin to describe the way they were married, but he can't deny that the bond between them is real--and it wasn't even the mystical soulbond thing (courtesy of the Dark God), either. It's a little strange to think that this girl he hadn't really known anything about before he said "I do" is now his partner for life, but for once the idea of "forever" doesn't so much as scare him as awake in him a strong sense of determination. They'll make it work.

It had been hard for him to part with her after the honeymoon, but she had to finish her education at St. Clare's and Dawn had impressed on him the need for someone with his experience with the African field offices, which were in dire need of competent management. That didn't exactly sound like a description of him, and he had told Dawn as much, that he found it hard to believe that he could have been so irreplaceable, but he did find them a surprising mess when he finally gave in and took a two-month tour of the continent. Now he's going to Maddy's prom, and it's only another month's wait before she'll graduate and join him, to attend the University of South Africa in the fall. Dawn had pulled the necessary strings to get her admitted despite having missed the application deadline; when Maddy had sent out her college applications getting married to a man who had died before she was born had not exactly been on her radar.

_Hey love,_ Maddy's telepathic voice intrudes on his thoughts.

_Hey,_ he thinks back. _Something wrong?_

_I'm fine,_ Maddy answers. _We're waiting for you here at the airport. Alan's driving me crazy, though, afraid you're not going to get here on time. He wants me to promise that if you don't get here soon, I'll teleport you the rest of the way, or at least Persephone._

Alan is the reason that Persephone's accompanying Xander on the flight to Cleveland. While Alan claims to have a girlfriend in Texas, supposedly she isn't able to make it to the St. Clare's prom, and so he had asked various friends to help set him up with a date, ending in him taking Madelyn's vampiric half-sister.

Xander and Persephone had met up in Germany, but their flight from there had been delayed and they had hit some turbulence over the Atlantic. _We should be there in three hours,_ he thinks, glancing at the interactive map. _The prom's not until tomorrow, right?_

Madelyn's answer's the telepathic equivalent of a shrug. _He's afraid that she won't get enough sleep to look her best._

Xander glances over at his vampiric sister-in-law, who is asleep in the seat next to him, the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her head. _Don't worry,_ he tells Madelyn. _Apparently her superpowers include the preternatural ability to sleep on planes._

_Ooh, I want that one,_ Madelyn whines playfully. _Do you think she'll trade?_

_Maybe if you ask nicely,_ Xander answers. There were few people on the planet interested in power who _wouldn't_ trade their powers, whatever they be, for Madelyn's set.

* * *

They get into Cleveland around 10pm. Faith's there, and Xander can't get over how much older she is than he remembers her being before he died. She's flanked by two students in St. Clare's uniforms. One is his wife; the other must be the infamous Alan.

The boy examines Persephone eagerly, too eagerly if his famed Texan girlfriend is anything but a fiction. Persephone's not exactly looking her best in her sweatsuit and rumpled hair, but Alan seems to be satisfied with what he sees. Xander's old enough that the difference between Madelyn's eighteen years and Persephone's apparent age of fifteen seems like an eternity, but he can see what a boy like Alan would see in Persephone even if she's physically too young for Xander himself. Apparently, in addition to getting to live forever, the Immortal has good genes.

He can't hold the boy's lecherous gaze against Alan too badly. One, Xander was little better in general when _he_ was eighteen; two, he's eying up Madelyn in exactly the same way right now. There's something about the way his wife looks in knee socks and a plaid skirt that makes Xander feel irrationally dirty.

Madelyn takes him in a quick embrace and by the time they break the kiss, there's quite a few heads turned, many of them with disapproving looks. Xander has to admit the schoolgirl uniform doesn't make it look very good, but screw them, she's his wife.

"Hey," Alan says to Persephone, extending his arm awkwardly. "I'm Alan."

"Persephone," Persephone answers, and purses her lips in the way that Xander's already noticed she does when she's resisting the urge to introduce herself as "Dark Queen of Azthorak."

Alan just pauses, unsure of what to say next. Xander feels for the boy; he's obviously interested in the vampire, but Xander doubts there's much an eighteen-year-old boy can do or say to impress an 800-year-old vampire, even if she does look fifteen.

On the other hand, _everyone_ probably seems impossibly young and immature to Persephone, and Buffy being sixteen didn't seem to deter Angel the first time he saw her.

They collect their luggage, with Faith carrying most of Xander's; she might be older, but she's certainly not weak. Persephone carries her own without difficulty; Alan looks at her uncomfortably, as the fact that she's so much stronger than him doesn't leave much room for gallantry.

They load the baggage into the back of Faith's car. Alan takes the passenger seat reluctantly; clearly he'd rather sit next to Persephone, but there's no way that Xander isn't sitting with his wife, and the choice between sharing the back seat with some random hormone-driven boy or Maddy's sister is pretty much a no-brainer.

Madelyn rests her head on Xander's shoulders, and he breathes in the scent of his wife's hair. "I've missed you," she whispers in his ear.

"Me too," he says. He puts an arm around her and kisses her on the forehead. She smiles up at him.

In a little bit, Faith pulls into the hotel. Valets take their luggage and begin carrying it to the rooms followed by the five. Xander and Maddy are in room 303; Persephone's in the adjoining 304. Faith and Alan see them settled in, then Faith taps Alan's shoulder and says, "Okay, let's let them get some rest." She looks at Xander when she says "rest" and makes it sound dirty in the way only Faith can.

Alan doesn't look exactly eager to return to campus, but he follows Faith's lead nonetheless, not like he has a choice. "It was nice meeting you," he says to Persephone.

She graces him with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow," she says, taking mercy on the boy by letting just the slightest hint of suggestiveness drip into her voice, but it's enough to light up Alan's face.

As Faith and Alan turn to leave, Maddy gives Persephone a hug and they exchange quick kisses on the cheek.

"Night, 'Sephone," she says, then grabs Xander by the shirt and pulls him into the hotel room.

As soon as the door is shut behind them, their lips are locked and their hands are all over each other. "Do you want me to leave this on?" Maddy asks impishly once they've broken a kiss. Xander glances down at the Catholic school uniform, considers the idea for a moment, then shakes his head and pulls off Madelyn's ugly red St. Clare's blazer. He begins unbuttoning the white blouse as she unbuckles his belt and unzips his fly. It's not long before, having run out of clothes to take off each other, they end up on the bed.

Tomorrow might be prom, but right now is homecoming.

* * *

Maddy's first thought when she wakes up is that the bed is too big, far wider than her twin bed in the room she shares at St. Clare's. Nor is it her bed in her room at her aunt and uncle's mansion in Bath.

Her second thought is the realization that there's someone in the bed with her. Her husband. Xander. It's sad that even after two months as a married woman waking up next to her husband is a strange and unfamiliar experience. She still feels more like a high school student than she does a married woman, even if she is both. She can't wait for graduation.

She disentangles herself from Xander, then makes her way into the bathroom. When she comes back out, he's awake and sitting on the bed, waiting for her. "Hey, beautiful," he says.

She sits down on his lap and kisses him.

They take a shower together. Their bodies still new and exciting to each other, they take delight in exploring them. They have sex in the shower, sure, but so too do they take time washing each other, their hands moving over flesh which is at once alien and theirs. They belong to each other.

Xander turns the water off, but they don't exit the shower. They just stand there, leaning against the tile wall, in each other's arms, and let themselves just be. Eventually, when they're mostly dry except for Maddy's hair, they get out of the shower. They don't put too much time into their appearances now; they'll be plenty of time for that later. Maddy just does the barest minimum to keep her hair manageable, and Xander's already putting on his clothes.

As soon as Xander is dressed, there's a knock on the door adjoining their room to Persephone's. "Come on in, 'Sephone," Madelyn shouts, and a second later the vampire enters, dressed in blue jeans, sneakers, black elbow-length gloves, and a scarlet corset--more or less her usual style of dress.

"So what's the plan, Sis?" Persephone asks.

Madelyn exits the bathroom and begins to get dressed. "We're due down in the spa at 10:30," she tells her half-sister. "Then the hairdresser's at one." She glances at her husband. "There's time to catch breakfast first."

Xander nods, and moves to the phone to order room service.

Once Maddy's pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans she sits down on the bed next to Persephone. "I don't know what the reaction of the other students is going to be," she warns her sister. "There's a lot who still remember the last time you were here." Before Perspehone had gotten her soul, she had posed as a St. Clare's student to get close to Madelyn--killing some of the other students in the process.

Persephone nods. "I'm used to cold shoulders."

Madelyn reaches over and takes a black-gloved hand in her own.

"Okay, food's on the way up," Xander says, sitting down on Xander's other side.

It's only five minutes before room service arrives, with two platters of ham and eggs for Maddy and Xander and some warmed pig's blood for Persephone. "It's amazing what you can get with a Council credit card," Xander observes.

Persephone arches her brow. "For what we're paying they should have slaughtered the pig fresh downstairs." She drinks her blood without another word, though.

* * *

Maddy and Persephone return later that afternoon with immaculate manicures and their hair elaborately styled. Xander thinks Madelyn is beautiful no matter how she does her hair, of course, but he can appreciate the artistry. The effect is a little incongruous considering both women are still wearing blue jeans, though.

The two of them go into Persephone's room to put on their gowns, which leaves Xander alone to put on his tux. It's the sixth time he's ever worn one, a number which spans three weddings (two of them his, but only one of _those_ successful), two proms (counting this one), and one Halloween. Still, there's something awkward about the elaborate garment, something that's just not him. Much of what Dawn and Giles do is fight evil by attending parties wearing outfits like this one (for Giles) or the ones Maddy and Persephone will be putting on in the next room (for Dawn), but he's always favored a more down to earth approach: traveling across Africa in a t-shirt and kakhi shorts.

He's gotten on and in the right place everything except for the bowtie, which just won't tie correctly, so he sits down on the hotel bed and flips on the television while he waits for Madelyn and Persephone. He's not watched must television since he's got back from the dead, and it's a surreal experience watching all the actors he recognizes be suddenly twenty older--and many of them worse for the wear.

He's about to turn the channel on Lindsay Lohan's talk show when Madelyn and Persephone re-enter in their dresses. Each of them is stunning. Madelyn in particular is gorgeous (although admittedly he is biased) in a strapless cerulean ballgown with full skirt which contrasts sharply with the fiery red of her hair. She moves with an easy grace, comfortable in the formal attire like someone who's been attending Watcher Galas since she was six, who has been to state dinners and danced with the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.

Persephone, on the other hand, seems distinctly awkward. This is the vampire who wears corsets as casualwear (then again, he's heard what her corsetiere charges; they'd _better_ be comfortable), who must have worn plenty of elaborate costumes over the centuries in her position as Dark Queen of Azthorak. Still, teenaged formalwear seems to have defeated her entirely.

Which is not to say that her dress isn't beautiful, or she in it, however uncomfortable she may seem. It's a dark, earthy red, the color of the fabric playing off her darker Mediterranean complexion.

If he looks closely, he can tell they're both wearing makeup by comparing Maddy's face to the one permanently emblazoned in his memory. The effects are subtle, otherwise unnoticeable.

Maddy crosses to him, steady on her high heels, and ties his bowtie effortlessly. Persephone follows after her, stumbling slightly even with her vampire agility, and Xander can't help but laugh, prompting Persephone's "I've killed men for less than that" glare. "I haven't worn shoes like these in almost two hundred years. We have to dance in these?"

Madelyn shrugs. "You'll be able to take them off if you want,"

"Or you could just do that mist thing," Xander offers.

Persephone rolls her eyes.

Maddy glances at the clock. "The limo'll be here in fifteen minutes," she informs the room.

Persephone sits down on the bed and kicks off her shoes.

* * *

Xander steps out of the limousine, helps Madelyn out, then extends a hand for Persephone.

"No, thank you," the vampire says, then evaporates into mist in that Drac-style way of hers, reconstituting herself in the shadow of one of the academic buildings. "This dress is a little too expensive to catch on fire," she notes.

They walk into the gym, which is full of teenagers in formal gear. There are a few teenagers, too, taking pictures, but not that many--not surprising, considering how far some of the students hail from.

Alan notices them almost immediately, holding a corsage; he's dressed sharply in a smart tux. Persephone accepts the corsage gracefully, then expertly pins a boutonnière on his lapel.

Kennedy comes over next, holding a camera and dressed in an elegant black dress. Xander can see Faith on the other side of the gym, shepherding teenagers while wearing a dress exactly like Kennedy's only white.

"Say cheese," she commands, and the four of them dutifully pose for the camera.

Then she takes one of just Xander and Madelyn, then Madelyn and Persephone without the boys. "The professional's in the lobby," she informs them after she's done taking all the shots she wants. "I'm sure your aunt and uncle will want lots of pictures."

Xander's not so sure; after all, their wedding photos are only a few weeks old. But they line up anyway and re-enact pretty the same series of poses they did for Kennedy, only now for the professional photographer and against the shiny black-and-white backdrop.

Once they're finally finished being photorgraphed, they make their way back to the gym, where they split up. Alan leads Persephone off to parade her in front of his friends, while Madelyn goes off with a group of girlfriends to get more photographs taken. Xander's about to go find Kennedy or Faith when an even voice says his name behind him. "Mr. Harris, I presume?"

Xaner turns to see an older man, about Giles' age, leaning on a cane. He's wearing a clerical collar, and Xander involuntarily takes a step back. A lifetime later, and Caleb still haunts him.

"You must be Father Marcus," he says.

The priest nods, extending his hand. Despite his age, his grip is firm. "I've heard a lot about you. And not just from your wife."

Xander swallows. Between Dawn, Faith, Kennedy, and Madelyn. he wonders just what the old priest has heard.

The priest smiles, clearly understanding what Xander is thinking and enjoying his discomfort. "You've lived a colorful life, Mr. Harris," he says. "Lives."

Xander does his best to smile back. "Well, you know, it's never boring."

"No," the priest agrees. "When you've seen as much as we've seen, life is never boring, no matter how much we would sometimes wish it to be. Apocalypses, adventures, demon attacks, malfunctioning magic: sometimes it seems like it's all searching me out."

Xander nods. That's certainly a feeling he's well acquainted with.

"And somehow," Father Marcus continues, "life continues to throw us surprises. Your wife, for example. I've taught many students over the years, Slayers and witches and soi-disant 'ordinary' humans, every one of them special in his or her own special way. But I've never had a student like Madelyn, nor will I again."

"She is sort of in her own class," Xander agrees. How _would_ one go about teaching one of the most powerful witches, ever?

"I've tried to be there for her in her years at St. Clare's--as teacher, mentor, spiritual leader. God knows I've fallen short of what she's needed, but--I'll be glad she'll have someone at her side to look after her once she leaves this school."

"I think she'll be looking after me more than vice versa," Xander argues.

Father Marcus doesn't push the point. "Perhaps," he says.

Madelyn and her cohort of girlfriends pick this moment to return to the gym. Father Marcus takes the chance to bow out gracefully, and Xander is left being introduced to a dozen different girls the names of which he will never be able to remember.

". . . and this is my roommate, Jenny," Madelyn finishes.

Jenny is a tall African-American girl in a sleek green dress. She examines Xander for a second, then says, "You look human to me. Maddy has you out to be the second coming of Christ or something."

Xander shakes his head. "No, just the second coming of Xander Harris."

"To think the world didn't get enough of him the first time," Persephone's wry voice cuts in as she and Alan rejoin the group.

Jenny's reaction to Persephone dusts any lesser vampire on the spot; clearly the girl remembers the last time Persephone had been on campus. Persephone, of course, just ignores her, continuing, "I've only known him a month and already I'm sick of him."

Xander shrugs. "In-laws."

All of a sudden, a disruption breaks out in the far side of the gym. "What's going on?" Xander wonders idly.

Xander might not have known Madelyn for very long, but he still knows his wife well enough to know the impish look of faux innocence on her face bodes trouble. "There might be another guy I set up with a date, too."

Xander reviews his mental list of young women Madelyn knows outside of school, and suddenly everything makes sense. "You didn't."

"She did," confirms Persephone with a smirk.

Xander takes a deep breath. "You brought the Princess Royal to the Hellmouth?"

"I didn't bring her," corrects Madelyn. "She brought her own transportation. I just found her a date."

Soon the crowd parts enough that Xander can see a figure emerge from it--and, sure enough, it's a young woman instantly recognizable as HRH Sophia. She's dressed in a long saffron gown and is flanked on each side by a black-suited bodyguard.

Persephone is the first one to greet her--everyone else is too shocked by the princess's sudden appearance to say anything, except for Madelyn who is watching everyone with a pleased look on her face. "Your Royal Highness," Persephone says with just a tinge of irony and a dainty curtsy.

Sophia returns the curtsy. "Dark Highness," she says, then turns to Madelyn and gives her a big hug. Xander gets a hug next, plus a kiss on the cheek, and all the boys in the gym (and some of the girls) are looking at him with unhidden envy.

"So you have a guy for me?" Sophia asks, with a carefully guaged amount of suggestiveness. She's been in the public eye since she was born, and she knows how to work a room.

A very eager-looking young man steps up to Madelyn. "Sophia, this is David Wharton," Maddy introduces them. "Dave, this is Her Royal Highness Princess Sophia Gloriana Elizabeth Alice, The Princess Royal, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the--"

"That's enough," Sophia breaks in. "I do want us to have time to dance tonight, you know." She offers her arm to her date, who seems more than a little overwhelmed by the experience but links her arm with his. "Aren't we supposed to get our pictures taken or something?"

* * *

There are six people in the limousine (not counting the driver) as they are driven to the hall--Maddy and Xander, Persephone and Alan, and now also Sophia and David--explaining at last the mystery of why there are room for six people in the limousine.

The three girls seem instantly comfortable, with Persephone and Sophia taking to each other at once; even though the two had just met each other for the first time, the fact that the other has Madelyn's trust is apparently good enough for each of them. The boys, on the other hand, don't look nearly so comfortable. David, who apparently had been told that Madelyn would get him a date "with one of her close friends" but hadn't been told who specifically, still hasn't recovered from the news and looks distinctly overwhelmed. Alan, on the other hand, keeps looking from Madelyn to Persephone to Sophia to David, obviously wondering why he hadn't been paired with the princess while intimidated by the fact that woman who is his date has killed more people than all the students who had ever graduated from St. Clare's put together. Not that he has any room to complain, since he had seemed quite satisfied with Persephone before Sophia appeared on the scene; to say that she is an attractive enough girl is an understatement, and she _is_ the Dark Queen of Azthorak besides.

The girls don't seem to notice any lack of enthusiasm on the part of their dates, however. They're all sitting together, so that Xander is the only male actually sitting next to his date, Madelyn's hand clasped in his even as her attention is focused on her friend and her sister.

They are, it seems, deeply involved in some discussion of geopolitical significance, whether a shift in the market would affect global demon movements or some such. "What do you think, Xander?" asks Sophia, inviting him into the conversation. "You've been in Africa the last month, right? Has there been an increase in demonic activity there?"

Xander shrugs; a month is hardly enough time to get to know a continent. "The experts tell me there wasn't, but--but I saw some places where it was pretty bad. There's a lot of places where it doesn't matter what the markets do; poverty is a permanent state of affairs. There are places that might just aw well be demonic feeding grounds."

The girls all nodded, each of them knowing how vulnerable to demonic forces extreme poverty could render a community. Madelyn gave his hand a quick squeeze.

"But tonight is a night for excess," says Persephone. "I think we've arrived at our destination."

Sure enough, the limousine has come to a stop. The three couples exit the limousine--this close to summer twilight still hasn't fallen yet at this hour, so Persephone mists as before.


End file.
